Local Motion: Wipe Out
Jason James plays Thorogood-style rockabilly; 9th Wave brings the longboard action

Thursday, July 31, 2008
By Dan Barry
Dan Barry photo
Jason James, frontman of the Bay State House Rockers.

Black hair, black shirt, black jeans, black guitar, and a stiff upper lip—Jason James looks like he just stepped out of Satan's hot rod. He plays like it, too. He flips his guitar behind his head, shredding through a solo by touch alone. James and his Bay State House Rockers pounded through a mixture of punk, rockabilly, and blues at Farmington's Zen Bar this past Saturday.

James models his voice after George Thorogood, snarling his lyrics more than singing them. He's flashy and morbid at the same time, attacking his guitar's frets with a crazy tremolo that leaves his fingers a blur. Meanwhile, his drummer thuds on the kick drum with every beat of the song, and at the end stands up and walks around his kit while still crashing and bashing on his cymbals.

9th Wave followed James and the Rockers, adding some surf to the evening's bill. They're Connecticut's premier surf band, and it's easy to see why. Their rhythm section of Negative Ed on bass and Fred Rawles on drums was incredibly sturdy and reliable. Meanwhile, Mike Rosado laid down some slippery surf guitar, and Sandy "Oceana" Brooks added color to the set by playing a number of different instruments. More playful than James' gritty charm, 9th Wave had members of the crowd dancing like the crazy cats at the Electric Psychedelic Pussycat Swingers Club in Austin Powers.

Jason James & the Bay State Houserockers
The Blues Audience, September 2004
by Lisa Marie (lisamarieblues@yahoo.com)

With sixteen years working the clubs, guitarist Jason James is by no means new to the New England blues scene. A soft-spoken young man offstage, but once he steps up to the mic, it's easy to see why he is called Worcester's undisputed king of guitar showmanship. His casual 50's look and signature pompadour is his everyday mode of dress, but this is no Elvis wannabe. Influenced by idols Johnny Cash, Sleepy LaBeef, Cub Coda, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Thorogood, and Bo Diddley, guitarist Jason James rips into original and classic Chicago, Texas and Delta blues, rock and roll, and country with a distinctive rockabilly and roots edge. His deep voice echoes Thorogood and fingers fly across the fret board as he slides across stage, slinging his guitar left, right, and behind his head. Backed by the hard-driving rhythm section of upright bassist Bob Young and drummer Dana Bonardi, this tight trio delivers blues with grit and fire. Jason James & the Bay State Houserockers brings down the house with one helluva show. Not to be missed!

FROZEN IN TIME:
The House Rockers Celebrate Rock's Roots
The Worcester Phoenix
by Brian Goslow (bgoslow@yahoo.com)

It didn't matter that the sun was ready to set and the temperature was in a steady dive toward freezing as Jason James's Gibson Hollowbody broke into the familiar opening chords of Link Wray's "Rumble" at the recent Highland Street Block-tober Art Festival and Block Party. The gathering snow clouds and the cold breeze that made it feel like 20 degrees didn't seem to bother his Bay State House Rockers either. Topped by his trademark black coiffeured hairdo, James, his legs spread apart in the classic rock-and-roll pose, complimented by ripped jeans, black work-boots, leather jacket, and T-shirt, could have been standing inside the heated confines of Vincent's or Gilrein's.

Nothing seems to throw the 26-year-old James off much. At the end of last year, after the House Rockers were voted the Best Local Roots/Swing Act in the 1999 Worcester Phoenix Best Music Poll, he split with bassist Chris Lillyman and drummer Jamie Jones over the group's musical direction.

"We were doing the punk rockabilly thing," James explains. "I had a really good time doing that, but I was really into the roots music. It [the band] was going into that hardcore thing, and I just pulled out and stayed where I've been."

When James returned with a new lineup, their rough edges threatened to reverse the professional gains he had made with Jones and Lillyman, who now perform with Musclecah. But what may have looked like career suicide at the time, now looks like a gamble that'll pay long-term dividends.

The crowd gathering around them in the former Friendly's parking lot seemed to agree. Bob Young Jr.'s strong rumbling bass sound drove the classic "Night Time," which like many of the Bay State House Rockers' songs, has been passed down through four decades plus of rock and roll (in this case, from the Vagrants to George Thorogood to James, who cites Thorogood as being his main inspiration). That was followed by "Slow Down" (Larry Williams to the Beatles to the Jam), "Little Bit 'o Soul" (Ramones via the Music Explosion), and "Who Do You Love?" (Thorogood's borrowed Bo Diddley anthem). Drummer Dana Bonardi, wearing only a light sweatshirt, didn't miss a beat during Eddie Cochran's "Somethin' Else," and when they performed "Breathless," James made the song his own by adding extra pronunciation to the chorus-ending "Breathless . . . child."

As the House Rockers broke into "Pipeline,' the wind blew the Halloween-themed streamers as if they were ripples in the ocean, but for a short time, the music made everyone forget that they were freezing their asses off.

Finally, after almost two hours, one of the sound crew told the band to wrap it up, bringing an aw-shucks grin to James's face. "I would have played until 1 a.m. if I could," he said afterwards, adding that the next stop was an 8 p.m. Halloween party in Marlborough before the band drove back to the city for a post-midnight performance at Cool Beans. "With Jason James, you've got to keep playing," said Bob Young, who became a House Rocker two months ago.

Worcester Phoenix archive:
http://www.worcesterphoenix.com/archive/music/00/11/09/ON_THE_ROCKS.html